56 Gang Suspects Arrested In Sweep

Officials Target Violent Doom City Group In Deerfield, Pompano

May 2, 2009|By Sofia SantanaStaff Writer

In one of the largest gang busts in Broward County in recent years, authorities have arrested more than 50 alleged gang members accused of wreaking havoc in Pompano Beach and neighboring Deerfield Beach.

Those arrested belong to a group called Doom City, investigators said.

Its members in the past have told the Sun Sentinel that they were aspiring rappers and that Doom City was their recording label, not the name of a gang.

However, authorities said Doom City is made up of cocaine dealers and convicted felons who carry longtime grudges and hunt down anyone who speaks out against their crimes.

"A lot of this violence started with fist fights in high school that later turned into shootings on the street," Broward Sheriff Al Lamberti said Friday.

The majority of the arrests took place Wednesday and Thursday.

At least three of the suspects have been in custody since July 2007 on felony murder charges. The three had been in a car chased by police after a robbery at a Pompano Beach car detailing business. One of the men in the car being pursued died when it crashed, and the survivors were charged with murder because the death occurred during commission of a crime, authorities said.

Since then, a witness to the robbery has cooperated openly with sheriff's investigators. That witness has been the target of several drive-by shootings, some involving illegal assault rifles, according to Sheriff's Office reports. The witness was wounded in one of the shootings, but survived.

By Friday afternoon, 56 alleged Doom City gang members were in the county jail, and investigators were trying to track down 12 others, officials said.

Investigators described the group as a "hybrid gang." They said it doesn't fit the usual image of a gang that identifies itself by graffiti tags, tattoos, bandannas or clothing colors.

Doom City sprouted from a group of youngsters who hung out together at school and in their neighborhoods, and their propensity for violence increased with age, investigators said.

That violent bent is well-known in some areas of Deerfield Beach and Pompano Beach. Authorities said witnesses and victims of serious crimes in those cities often refuse to cooperate with law enforcement officers for fear of retaliation.

"When the witnesses wouldn't talk, we had to look to physical evidence," said sheriff's Sgt. Dan Fitzpatrick, a gang investigator.

The physical evidence, though, sometimes isn't enough for officers to make an arrest.

Fitzpatrick, standing beside a poster showing dozens of the suspects' jail booking mug shots, said he hopes the current wave of arrests of suspected gang members will show residents they shouldn't be afraid to come forward.